WELLINGTON, New Zealand (NiuFM, Oct. 31) - American dollars are making their way to Kiribati but the island nation, who relies on foreign fishing licenses, is cautious about giving would-be entrepreneurs the green light.

An American wants to cut and export native trees, but president Anote Tong says while the project could lead to other money-generating ventures, they don't know enough about the deal.

Tong says they'll have to do their own evaluations about the tree-exporting industry to see whether it's worth going into it.

He says the people behind the idea are looking to use Aid money initially, and he has reservations about how viable the project is. (listen)

In fact, it fell by 5.4 percent in the first eight months of 2007, the bank says in its monthly economic review out today.

The bank says that given lower visitor arrivals and reduced activity in the tourism industry, tourism earnings were lower by an annual 9.0 percent in the first two quarters of this year.

In the sugar industry also, production declined by almost 10.0 percent, cumulative to September, and the recent drought is expected to affect both the 2007 and 2008 crops.

Latest statistics on the building and construction sector also indicate that the total value of work put-in place, cumulative to the second quarter, totaled around FJ$113.4 million [US$74 million], a significant annual decline of 27.2 percent, the RBF said.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Nov. 5) - The Papua New Guinea government is pushing for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to kick off by 2011 with a PGK500 million [USS184 million] funding allocation.

Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma called on gas developers to get the LNG project started while prices and other factors were favorable.

"The Government is committed to seeing that the LNG project gets off, and in that regard, has in the national supplementary budget, allocated PGK500 million to fund its equity," Mr. Duma announced. He was officiating at the opening of the PNG petroleum two-day seminar in Port Moresby last Friday morning.

The LNG projects -- one with InterOil and the other under a joint venture of Oil Search and ExxonMobil -- were into pre-FEED studies (front end engineering design).

InterOil reported that the current project consisting of two-train liquefaction plant was targeting its...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Nov. 5) - South Fly Member of Parliament Sali Subam has paid PGK700,000 [US$258,000] to Ela Motors for three Hino trucks, two 10-seater land cruisers, three dinghies and three outboard motors for the people his electorate. He had called on Ela Motors to arrange a training component where young people from the electorate to be trained to maintain the equipment.

He said his priority was land and sea transport with South Fly district having 300 km of accessible road mainly on the mainland where these trucks would be used.

"My people of South Fly over the last 30 years have suffered due to very limited Government services in the district, mainly on the mainland," he said.

He said this resulted in very little number of vehicles available to transport goods and services to the markets.

Mr. Subam, who is also vice-minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration, said the three outboard motors and three trucks...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Nov. 5) - Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare says no government is able to provide free education for all children given the current economic situation of the country.

Sir Michael, who was speaking on the talk-back show on NBC Wewak last Thursday night, said promises of free education by political parties and candidates was a total lie as it was impossible for any government to fund education for all children.

However, the Somare-led Government has managed to provide a subsidized education this year because they had managed the country’s economy well since taking office in 2002.

Sir Michael said the Government had a lot to do in terms of education as it must first build schools in all villages and renovate the existing schools, some of the whose buildings were erected by the colonial administration.

He said the Government had distributed PGK100 million [US$36 million] from the budget...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (NiuFM News, Nove. 2) - A Te Teko religious leader is rolling up his sleeves and showing his support for the people arrested in the recent Uruwera police raids.

[PIR editor’s note: Te Teko is a town east of Rotorua on New Zealand’s North Island.]

Prebysterian minister, Reverend Wayne Te Kawaa, is standing firm on his stance, as one of those who've been marching in protest at the police action.

[PIR editor’s note: Seventeen people were reportedly arrested in New Zealand last week in coordinated "anti-terror" police raids, with all but two refused bail, following a series of coordinated police "anti-terror" raids in the eastern-central region of the country’s North Island. Charges filed include possession of firearms and Molotov cocktails.]

Te Kawaa says Winston Peters' claim that those demonstrating in support of the 17 who've been arrested are "separatists" are unjustified.

SUVA, Fiji (FijiSUN, Nov. 6) – The sale of Naitauba Island in Fiji was an exception, says former Minister for Home Affairs Militoni Leweniqila. He said that when he visited the island back in the 1980s, the sale of freehold islands in Lau was prohibited at the time.

However the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara allowed special approval for the sale of Naitauba to actor Raymond Burr.

"Because of the special relationship between Ratu Mara and Burr, the sale of Naitauba Island was an exception in those days," said Mr Leweniqila.

[PIR editor’s note: Naitauba Island is located in Fiji’s Lau Group, to the east of Vanua Levu island. According to the FijiSUN, an American named Franklin Jones, known to his followers as Da Free John, or Adi Da, has been leading a religious cult on Naitauba since 1983. He reportedly bought the island from Raymond Burr. The cult reportedly was earlier based in California under the name The Johannine Dalst Communion. ]

SAIPAN, CNMI (Mariana Variety, Nov. 5) - The Fitial administration is ready to work with the incoming new members of the Legislature - even if its leadership will no longer be aligned with the ruling Covenant Party.

Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said Governor Benigno R. Fitial is willing to work with the Legislature regardless of its members’ party affiliations.

"The election has been a bit of a distraction and the administration is eager to re-establish a good working relationship with the Legislature, regardless of the outcome of the elections," said Reyes in an e-mail.

He said the government’s spending level is their primary concern.

Because no new budget has been passed for fiscal year 2008, the government is still authorized to spend US$163.5 million based on the FY 2007 budget.

But the Department of Finance projects that the government will collect...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.